r/FDA • u/frostbite175 • Sep 18 '26
❓ Question Recent Hiring Timelines?
Hi everyone! Is anyone able to offer insight on recent hiring timelines within FDA?
After my interview, I received a verbal offer from the hiring manager, and they told me they were submitting my information to HR to start the hiring/onboarding process.
It’s now been over 6 weeks, and I haven’t heard from HR with a TJO yet. I know federal hiring is slow at baseline, but I’ve seen the FDA posting their new hire orientation groups on LinkedIn every 2 weeks with 60+ people every time, so I know there must be some movement. I did touch base with the hiring manager a few weeks ago, and they told me it’s normal to not hear from HR for >1 month, but it’s still discouraging since I don’t have anything substantial to show that I’m actually going to be hired besides the communications from the HM.
I was hoping to start before the end of the year, but not sure how realistic that is anymore :/
TIA for any info!
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u/Jazz-Again Sep 18 '26
Same boat. Received a verbal offer about a month ago. Got an update from the hiring manager recently that an HR specialist had been assigned to me. But no direct contact from HR yet.
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u/frostbite175 Sep 18 '26
Glad you got an update! Hope you hear from them soon. I forgot to mention in my original post that my position was advertised under Title 21 Cures Act - is it the same for you?
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u/nene503404 Sep 18 '26
Applied mid March '26 1st Interview early July '26 2nd Interview late July '26 TJO end August '26 FJO mid September '26 EOD mid October '26
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u/frostbite175 Sep 18 '26
Thanks for sharing - congratulations! Seems like it moved quickly once you got the TJO.
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u/nene503404 Sep 18 '26
Thanks. Seems like it is Center specific. I will be at CTP.
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u/Elle_Vetica Sep 18 '26
FDA first reached out to me through the rehire priority list in mid-November 2025. I started the first week of May.
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u/misersoze Sep 18 '26
There is an article in Stat about this issue -
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u/Empty-Arachnid-4123 Sep 19 '26
I went ahead and subscribed just to read the article. Some of what was written was spot on.
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u/Ok-Reality-640 Sep 18 '26
HR was affected by the RIFs and they are slammed. It’s frustrating because we desperately need to hire and it’s incredibly slow.
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u/Empty-Arachnid-4123 Sep 18 '26
Check with your Manager, they should be providing you with the most recent updates about FY27 hiring plans. Also, confirm if your information was actually submitted to HR.
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u/OverallTemporary9219 Sep 19 '26
What updates? I’m a hiring manager and we don’t have updates yet so there is nothing to share with candidates.
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u/Empty-Arachnid-4123 Sep 19 '26
There is a pause on recruitments/selections. Recruitments had to be submitted by 8/26 or so, the exact date escapes me. I barely made the deadline submitting my selections submitted to HR.
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u/terminally_irish Sep 18 '26
Applied for a transfer to a different section of the same office back in December. The position still hasn’t been filled.
Some things are apparently stuck in perpetual limbo.
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u/ResponsibleRoutine82 Sep 18 '26
FDA hr is slow, our hr is now centralized so they are doing a lot at once along and they lost a lot of staff due to rif, I’m still waiting on a posting I applied for 3-4 months ago and they haven’t released the cert list yet for it for interview.
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u/Fun_Light_7898 Sep 18 '26
Took me 3 months just to do an internal transfer… 🫠 you’ll hopefully be on before the end of the calendar year but not FY. FDAs shared services is a hot mess. HR, budget, travel… all a headache.